3. Local units not constituting separate legal entities (branches), which are dependent on foreign enterprises, and classified as quasi-corporations in accordance with the European System of Accounts 1995 set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (14) and the United Nation's 1993 System of National Accounts, shall be deemed to be enterprises for the purposes of the business registers.

Business registers for statistical purposes are the main source for business demography, as they keep track of business creations and closures as well as the structural changes in the economy by concentration or de-concentration, brought about by operations such as mergers, takeovers, break ups, split offs and restructuring.

Business registers are one method by which to reconcile the conflicting requirements for collating increased information on enterprises on the one hand and lightening their administrative burden on the other, in particular by using existing information in administrative and legal files, especially in the case of micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 (6).

The new Regulation on business registers covers the transmission of individual data on multinational enterprise groups to Eurostat and feedback of harmonised information to Member States leading to a Community register of multinational enterprise groups (EuroGroups), which will be fully implemented from 2008 and onwards.

This federal government should already have taken steps to: one, work with other governments and aboriginal communities to improve aboriginal access to forest resources on crown lands; two, promote aboriginal involvement in provincial forest management; three, give continuing support to aboriginal peoples forest resource associations; four, encourage the provinces to work with their large timber licensees, like the Irvings, to promote forest management partnerships with aboriginal firms; five, encourage joint ventures between aboriginal forest operating companies and other firms with wood processing facilities; six ...[+++], promote less intensive aboriginal forest management practices and traditional land use activities; seven, work to provide for special roles for aboriginal governments in reviewing forest management and operating plans within their traditional territories; eight, work toward ensuring that aboriginal land use studies are a requirement for all forest management plans; nine, ensure that forest management expertise is available to First Nations; and ten, consult with aboriginal governments to develop a joint policy statement delineating their respective responsibilities in relation to Indian forest reserves.

COMMUNITY CO-ORDINATION IN DRAWING UP BUSINESS REGISTERS FOR STATISTICAL PURPOSES The Council recorded its agreement, with Germany voting against, on the substance of the Regulation on Community co-ordination in drawing up business registers for statistical purposes.